BEST-EVER REFUTATION OF THE "LORD OF THE RINGS IS RACIST" ARGUMENT: From Jonah Goldberg, at the time of the last movie, but still relevant now:
Many of the Orcs (and the super-Orcs) are dark-skinned and have slant-eyes. They are also — how shall I put this? — Orcs! Ya frickin' idjit! One is tempted to ask who is the real racist here? On the one hand we have people — like me — who see horrific, flesh-eating, dull-witted creatures with jagged feral teeth, venomous mouths, pointed devilish ears, and reptilian skin, and say, "Cool, Orcs!" On the other hand we have people, like Mr. Yatt, who see the same repugnant creatures and righteously exclaim "black people!" Maybe he should spend less time vetting movies for signs of racism and more time vetting himself if, that is, he free-associates black people with these subhuman monsters.As for me, I loved "Return of the King," unquestionably my favorite of the three LOTR films. Among its many accomplishments, it set a new all-time record for Most False Endings (6) in an American film, breaking the previous record of 5, set by Steven Spielberg's "A.I.: Artificial Intelligence." Posted by Stephen Silver at December 30, 2003 12:28 AM